Guess what? LSU leads the nation since 2013 - by far.

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We crunched the numbers on the amount of underclassmen at P5 schools leaving early for the NFL.

Well before members of LSU’s 2014 signing class took a college snap, some of them already had their sights on the 2017 NFL draft.

Will Clapp can attest to this. He heard the chatter from his teammates even before their first practice together.

There is an epidemic at LSU that is becoming ingrained in its purple-and-gold fabric: Underclassmen, even those projected as late- or mid-round selections, are declaring for the NFL draft at a higher rate than any other college program in the nation.

Over the past six years, 32 non-seniors at LSU declared for the draft. That is eight more than the next closest team, Florida State (24). Florida is next at 23 before a jumble of programs round out the top 10: Alabama, Clemson and OhioState (20 each), Southern California (19), Stanford and Notre Dame (15 each) and UCLA (14).

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Since 2013, the Southeastern Conference leads all Power 5 leagues in declaring underclassmen at 154. In a 14-school conference, the Tigers make up a whopping 20 percent of them.

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“It hurts you, but the reality is in that next recruiting year, you better have more guys,” former coach Les Miles said. “The ability to market that, it’s like Kentucky (basketball) with the one-and-done.”

Miles was leading the program during this trend’s beginning in Baton Rouge. He used the NFL as a recruiting tool. LSU coaches pitched to prospects a three-year-and-out model, promising to have them NFL-ready after Year 3. They also used departing juniors — and their vacant starting positions — as ways to woo kids to campus for early playing time.

Said Clapp, recalling his classmates’ recruitment: “The coaches were saying, ‘We get you in and out. Three-year deal.’ ”

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